Turning staples into status objects: Unilever revamps Vaseline

Unilever is upgrading Vaseline to make the legacy brand more desirable, sensorial, and culturally fluent. The recently released Gluta-Hya Lip Serum Gloss contains tripeptide and hyaluronic acid, and aims to capture Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s attention by meeting their demand for skin care that bridges credibility and color. 

However, behind the shine of the product launch, Vaseline’s reengineered positioning reflects changing consumer behavior rather than a simple portfolio expansion. The strategy behind the gloss signals that cultural currency, rather than just efficacy, is influential for lip care.

“There has been a fundamental shift in how the lip category is behaving culturally and emotionally,” Melissa Houston, global associate brand director of Vaseline at Unilever, tells Personal Care Insights.

“Lip care is no longer just a functional fix — it has become one of beauty’s most expressive, impulse-driven driven and socially visible categories.”

The shift from functional to playful lip care is largely attributable to how younger generations of beauty consumers use their products. According to Houston, Gen Z and Gen Alpha collect multiple lip products and carry them everywhere, using them as “portable signals of identity and taste.”

“Heritage brands don’t stay relevant by standing still. They stay relevant by translating trust into innovations that move with culture,” Houston adds.

Moreover, the rise of hybrid beauty is seeing active ingredients increasingly incorporated into makeup. In this “skinification” of color cosmetics, Houston explains that the formula does not use skin care ingredients solely for their functional benefits — but also because they make the gloss sound scientifically advanced and skin-care-like, which resonates with younger consumers.

“Ingredients like tripeptide and hyaluronic acid matter not only for what they do, but for what they signal: modern skin care fluency and scientific credibility,” she says.

The launch marks a shift from functional lip care toward a more beauty-led approach.Houston explains that Vaseline’s legacy gives the company credibility, while innovation in line with the culture gives it currency. “Gluta-Hya Lip Serum Gloss is showing that when we bridge the two, a heritage brand can lead the next era of beauty.”

Repositioning a staple 

Debuting Vaseline in a gloss format is part of Unilever’s strategy to reimagine its mass-market staples. The launch aims to use a social-first approach to reshape consumer perception of the brand beyond functional care. In doing so, the company aims to drive what it calls “Desire at Scale” — products that consumers want, not just need.

“Gloss is inherently visible, expressive, and emotional. It delivers instant aesthetic payoff, shine, glow, and enhancement, bringing self-expression into lip care,” says Houston.

Vaseline can signal performance and “pleasure” by creating a gloss that contains serum-grade ingredients. With Gluta-Hya Lip Serum Gloss, the overarching positioning is reinforced through design. 

“The soft touch tube, luminous metallic finish, transparent cap, and clear applicator deliberately borrow from premium skin care and cosmetics,” Houston explains.

“This is where Desire at Scale becomes tangible: taking a brand known for care and making it feel beautiful, expressive, and emotionally rewarding, without alienating its broad consumer base.”

Beyond function, the skinnified formula makes the gloss feel scientifically advanced and skin care-driven, resonating with younger consumers.According to Houston, the result is a product consumers are proud to use and show on camera, the latter of which is foundational to the company’s social media-driven growth strategy.

Driving viral demand

Social media virality plays an important role in accelerating Vaseline’s expansion into beauty-led lip products. Houston explains that online activity is not only an amplification channel for brands but also a space where ideas are created and evolved. 

“From the outset, Gluta-Hya Lip Serum Gloss was designed to perform in the spaces where beauty is discovered today. Every design decision anticipated the camera: metallic print that catches light mid-scroll, rounded edges that move smoothly in hand and in frame, and a transparent applicator that visually demonstrates precision and efficacy.”

The gloss launched exclusively on the UK TikTok Shop, which Houston says accelerated the product’s debut. “The product entered culture as an impulse object, driven by creators rather than scripts. The results were immediate.”

Promotional packs of the gloss sold out in record time, and the launch ranked among the top beauty livestreams of the day.

“That virality didn’t just drive sales — it validated Vaseline’s move into beauty-led lip care and fast-tracked retailer interest across channels,” Houston concludes.